Category Archives: Traditional Recipes

After a long hiatus, I’m easing back into things with this simple, delicious recipe. It comes from Nancy Singleton Hachisu’s Japanese Farm Food, a book my very generous (and wildly talented) cousin Kathy let me thumb through. It’s a fairly thick tome, with a mix of approachable recipes (like this one), and complicated ones (like […]

For anyone who thinks rice is a little boring, I urge you to make this Mixed Rice with Pork and Bamboo Shoots. This maze gohan (mixed rice) is one of my favorites for its ease and short ingredient list. But more importantly it delivers in flavor. Today is the last day of my month-long challenge […]

Kakiage tempura is a mixed vegetable tempura, usually with carrots, onion, and gobo. I didn’t have any gobo on hand, so I made it with just the 2 ingredients. Instead of preparing a variety of vegetables and shrimp, what I like about kakiage tempura is its quick and versatile. We had tempura soba the first […]

What’s great about this Kuwayaki Pork Donburi is how the sweet and sticky sauce clings to the pork and the way the shiso perfumes each bite. When I saw the recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, I was immediately drawn to the photo. It looked amazing. So, you can imagine I was even more […]

Gyoza is one of the most convenient foods to have around. I make this recipe and freeze what I don’t use right away (it makes a lot!). Since I always have a bag tucked in the freezer, when I’m feeling lazy or there’s nothing else to eat in the house, I can make an instant […]

Ginger beef is good to have under your belt because it comes together super fast, it’s satisfying and delicious, and it only requires 4 ingredients. Pork is probably more commonly used in this dish, but I remember my mom making it with beef growing up. You could make a meal of it by pairing this […]

Do you love sushi? Is it becoming an expensive habit? Making sushi at home doesn’t have to require any rolling technique or special equipment. Temaki zushi (which translates to hand rolled sushi) is DIY—you prepare all the ingredients and everyone makes their own hand rolls. It feels communal and the best part is creating your […]

Have you disliked a certain food all your life? I hated walnuts for a long time until I came across Mark Bittman’s Beets with Garlic Walnut Sauce. I realized the walnuts I’d been eating were rancid and inappropriately inserted into things (like brownies and banana bread!). But the beet recipe made me discover the true […]

The misoshiru (miso soup) of my youth was hearty. My grandmother made it with chunks of vegetables and sometimes white fleshed fish. She used cabbage, daikon, kabocha, yellow onion, enoki, tofu, carrots, sweet potato, and other ingredients that probably needed to be used up. I loved her misoshiru, full of flavor and sustenance—not like the […]

Making dashi is easy and it’s used in many Japanese dishes, so it’s worth knowing the basics. All you need is a kombu (dried sea kelp), katsuobushi (bonito flakes), and water. I’ve written about it before, way, way back when I first started this blog. I decided to revisit the recipe and make a video […]